The Son of Kratos

Chapter 7

I know I say this a lot but thank you to all of my readers, I never thought this book would make it this far. Now I'm going to show how much Atreus has changed.

"Atreus?" The whole camp stood in shock as they gazed at the tall young warrior in front of them. "It has been a long time. I'm not surprised you didn't recognize me but I have returned from my stay at Valhalla. This is my nephew, Jake." Jake groaned, "you know I hate it when you tell people that." Atreus merely laughed in response, "and this beautiful shield maiden is my girlfriend, Freydis." They smiled at each other and kissed briefly. Freydis looked at the campers, "I have heard a lot about this place, I would like to be shown around." Atreus nodded and led them around the camp as everyone stood in silence.

Most of the campers woke to the sound of swords clanging the next morning. They followed it to the arena where they saw Atreus and Freydis fighting with swords and round shields while Jake sat to the side drinking mead. "Wow! Atreus can actually fight with a sword now," someone spoke in surprise, "this fight looks intense. Should we stop them?" Jake shook his head, "look closer. They have smiles on their faces. They're just joking around, this is play fighting to what they have endured. Atreus killed a Fire Giant with his bare hands once." Everyone's eyes widened and they looked back at the sparring couple, looking closer they noticed Atreus had no shirt on. They saw far worse scars than he previously had. Burn marks. Arrow wounds. Axe and sword slashes. But the worst was a scar that covered the right side of his face. (Imagine Bjorn Ironside from Vikings in season 5B onwards) They didn't see it before but now they did. "What the hell happened to him?" "In order to control his power over fire, he had to journey to Muspelheim, the realm of fire and fire giants. He spent one month there, when he came back he had that scar on his face, those burn marks and that long, jagged scar across his back. Even I don't all that happened to him, but he came back to Valhalla with those fresh injuries, limping. A Fire Giant followed him, none of us were prepared. But he didn't care, he grabbed a sword and stabbed it's knee, he then snapped it's neck. All of Valhalla saw that, saw his bravery. After that he wakes up every night screaming from the nightmares. Only Freydis knows what truly happened to him. It would be best to avoid fighting him, I heard he couldn't control his anger when he was here. Well, he can now and he was trained by the greatest einherjar. He is considered the best swordsman in Valhalla." "Ha. Just wait until the seven and their families come back, Percy is going to wreck him." Turning to Atreus and Freydis again, they saw them laugh as Atreus disarmed her easily. They started to rethink their previous statement.

"We must remember the prophecy. You have the Leviathan Axe but you do not have the Blades of Chaos," Chiron spoke to Atreus. Freydis gripped his hand and looked at him in sympathy, knowing he knew how to get them but didn't want to. "I do know how to find them and it will unlock more of my powers, specifically the ones from my Greek and Giant side. I have to kill a human." Atreus looked down in shame at what he had to do as everyone gasped. Then the Ares cabin walked in, "remember when you beat all of us up? Well, we're here to repay the favor." He smiled wickedly as Atreus stood up to confront him. "I think it is in your best interest to leave before you all get hurt," he said in a deadly calm tone. They just laughed to themselves as the leader punched Atreus in the face. He barely flinched and turned his head to look at them again as they all got worried expressions. Atreus smirked to himself and Freydis rolled her eyes.

The people walking around outside the Big House were shocked when they saw an Ares camper thrown through a wall. All other Ares campers gathered around Atreus, weapons drawn. A Viking sword materialized in his hand as he prepared for a fight. Atreus' eyes glowed slightly with power and everyone watching could see the spirit of a warrior and years of experience in his eyes. Those who didn't see his scars before, gasped when they saw the pain Atreus endured. The red tattoos he shared with his father appeared on his skin. Atreus swung his sword in defense, blocking every attack. Once they had no energy left, Atreus turned to offense. Within seconds, the entire Ares cabin was on the ground with Atreus hovering over the leader. He held out his hand, to help him up. The leader grabbed it and rose with a confused expression. Atreus responded, "you fought valiantly. You all would make excellent einherjar. It's a shame your beliefs would take you elsewhere. But enjoy Elysium." And with that, he walked away with Freydis.

Chiron was deep in thought. The seven were returning and he didn't know how to tell them about Atreus. Atreus sat with Freydis and Jake at the Zeus table, drinking mead Jake brought from Valhalla. Jake practiced spells that Loki taught him, while Atreus and Freydis talked to each other when someone yelled, "the seven are back!" Atreus' head snaps up at the statement. Everyone except Freydis, Atreus and Jake walked to Thalia's tree to see the seven and their families being greeted by Chiron, "welcome back. You all have missed a lot." This earned a confused look from them, Chiron went to explain but an Ares camper who was walking by said, "be careful Percy, your title as best swordsman is in trouble," making others chuckle as everyone started their daily routines. Percy's eyes widened at that as Zoe asked, "who is so good, people question my dad's skill?" Chiron sighed and gestured to the Zeus table where Atreus stood leaning on a pillar laughing at a story Jake was telling. Their eyes scanned his appearance. He had short, light brown hair that was shaved on the sides and back of his head; was at least 6ft tall; lean but still had muscles; no shirt on, exposing his six pack and horrific scars and burns, particularly one over his right eye. "Who is he? He looks to old to be a new camper," Piper asked. "Look at his eyes." They did and shared a collective gasp. "Oh my gods!" Zoe walked towards him. Atreus turned his head to see his old friend. "Zoe," he acknowledged in a deep, smooth voice with a slightly Norse accent. "Atreus." Her family approached behind her. "Oh right! This is my nephew, Jake." "Stop telling people that!" Jake yelled while Atreus and Freydis threw their heads back laughing. "And this is Freydis,my girlfriend." At the last word, Zoe flinched slightly, gazing at the blonde, green eyed warrior smiling to her. Atreus, oblivious to Zoe's feelings said, "well, I'll see you guys around, Freydis and I are going to go spar." He flashed a bright smile to them all, matching Freydis', as they walked away holding hands. Zoe's disappointment was noticed by everyone but Percy, who looked in Atreus' direction, said "I think I can take him." All the campers in that heard laughed. Everyone knew things were going to be different.

Thank you for reading this. I'm on a break from school so I'll be able to get some more writing done. Vote, comment, tell others. And Happy Holidays to everyone, no matter what you celebrate. Be safe.